Rain has been pouring out of the heavens all day with little break. Here’s my neighbour’s car shot through the windscreen of my car this evening. Just back from acupuncture, need to shoot something not sharp to counter the needles I watched being put into my feet and hands, never mind the ones I didn’t see go into my neck, arms, hands, back and legs previously. at least 26 in all. Feel sluggish now.

Phil has amazing rain photos from a few days ago, too tired to link right now, sorry!

Tour of Ireland riders race through the main street in Blarney at speed. It seems like everyone came out to cheer them on!

Will sent me a text this morning saying the legal requirements for a charity event are too much for the planned Pink for October on the 20th of September, but he wondered if we could organise a photowalk in Cork City on the same day instead. I’m not 100% sure I’m free yet but I think it’s a great idea. I haven’t shot much in town in ages. Anyone interested?

Yesterday the Tour of Ireland rode (quickly) through Blarney village, but the main group was proceeded by these three cyclists by almost 4 minutes. Good thing too, good practice for when the rest sped through in front of us at breakneck speed!

The Tour of Ireland bicycle race passed through Blarney on it’s way to Cork City this afternoon. There was a sprint to the finish line in front of the local Catholic church before the cyclists made their way down the dual carriageway to Cork and up Patrick’s Hill, twice!

I was there ready to shoot the participants, but I was overwhelmed by their speed. It only took the main group about 11 seconds to come around the corner at one end of Blarney and disappear through the other end. I’m kicking myself I shot in Programme mode when I should have been in Aperture Priority mode, but I did get a few nice panning shots that froze the rider while the background blurred into smudges and streaks of colour.

The Canon 40D performed admirably. ISO was set to 100 because it was a bright day, AI Servo focus to track the riders and keep them in focus, and high speed continuous shooting mode which delivered 6.5fps. It was all over so quickly I barely had time to take a breath. I shot around 230 images while waiting and during the short time the racers were in Blarney. I knew I’d go a little mad with the shutter button, so I preselected Jpeg mode rather than my usual RAW mode.

Here’s a transcript of the commentary during the race. This bit, while serious, made me smile:

13.10: The race leader has been to see the race doctor, who reports a very unusual injury. He had a thorn embedded in his tongue – presumably from an overhanging branch, or perhaps even some dried fruit he ate – which was removed by the doctor. The thorn, not his tongue.

Hope you like the gallery, hopefully some of these shots will be posted here in single posts during the week!

In 2001 Donald Trump announced he’d build the tallest building in the world in Chicago, “Trump International Hotel and Tower”. After the attacks on the WTC in September that year the plans were changed however, but it’s still an awfully high building. Check out the Wikipedia page for further details.

This is the building site of the “Trump Tower” as it’s known locally. I shot this in 2005, and they’ve made quite a bit of progress since then as you can imagine, but this is a piece of history, and a patch of bare ground that won’t see daylight again for many many years.